


A New World, A New Code

by Pdxtrent



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison’s code, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Hunters, I’m not sure this one needs a Kate Argent warning but it’s never a bad idea, POV Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Scott McCall’s morality, Who Watches the Watchmen?, play it again inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29951361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pdxtrent/pseuds/Pdxtrent
Summary: The summer after their first year of college, Allison and Scott go on a road trip with Chris to see Kate Argent, which results in Scott seeing inside the world of the Hunters, and forces Allison and Chris to confront their legacy, and what responsibility they owe the world.
Relationships: (background), Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Chris Argent & Scott McCall, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 15
Kudos: 46





	A New World, A New Code

**Author's Note:**

  * For [metisket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/metisket/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Play It Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/862320) by [metisket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/metisket/pseuds/metisket). 



> This was completely inspired by my deep and abiding love for ‘Play It Again’, still one of my two favorite fics in this fandom. 
> 
> After the last update there’s not much left unanswered, but I always wondered how different the Kate Argent of the new universe could really be from the one we know in the canon universe (a question of nature versus nurture) and this story has been coming together in little pieces for awhile now and I finally finished it.

The thing is...

...the thing is there were times when the differences between the two Stiles were so naked Scott couldn’t help but remember what he’d lost. 

Most of the time he could just ignore it. It wasn’t pretending, not exactly. But it was hard to remember that his Stiles was dead when the other Stiles was here in his place. And he was Stiles in almost every way that mattered. Even the addition of magic and werewolves and parallel worlds wasn’t too strange, because it was Stiles there laughing and talking about whatever crazy thing he was obsessed about today like it had always been (Scott still knew more about the history of circumcision than anyone should know because that obsession had lasted a full week and a lot of details. Honestly, he should have figured out the whole 'Stiles was bisexual' thing way before he did, it just hadn't really mattered to him, and Stiles was the one who usually thought things like that through).

But there were times the events of Other Stiles’ life showed through and he was forced to remember. When the trauma and loss rode the surface, and he was torn between missing his own Stiles so much and aching for the obvious hurt on the face of the Stiles he still has. 

This was one of those times.

“You’re going where?” Stiles said in his most horrified voice. And Scott KNOWS this voice. It's the one for 'Lydia is dating JACKSON?!?' and the voice of pretty much every time Derek is in the slightest danger. Stiles is not as subtle as he thinks. 

“I knew you were going to be weird about this,” Allison said. “Look. Aunt Kate called. She asked dad and me to come meet her in Montana. It’s not to hunt, she knows we're retired. But she apparently got a letter from a lawyer my grandfather had working for him after he faked his death. There are some legal problems to sort through, and the property and new will that need to be dealt with, so dad needs to be there.”

Stiles started to pace. Not an unfamiliar habit, his Stiles had paced too. But the way this Stiles paced was so different. It was done with intent. Like the pacing might solve the problem all on its own. It was honestly a little scary.

“Okay, this will be fine,” Stiles said as he paced, and Scott looked at Allison who was watching Stiles with a bemused look. “This Kate isn’t that Kate. No, this Kate is NOT that Kate.” He paused in his pacing. “Right?” 

“Right,” Scott said, knowing almost instinctively that Stiles needed to work through this himself. And see, that’s what made it all so strange. Because yeah, this Stiles had lived through a horror show he couldn’t imagine, but the tics and the person inside were still the same. 

Stiles shot him a grateful look. 

"Look at Jennifer. She's perfectly nice here, even if the other her was, you know—" Scott let the sentence drop.

"A mass-murdering psycho who used dark magic and human sacrifice to make herself nearly invincible." 

"Right," Scott answered, relieved because Stiles seemed to be calming down slightly. And they hadn't even needed to call Derek.

(He HAD strongly considered calling Derek.)

“It’s going to be fine,” Allison said. And Scott winced. He loved her, he really did, but she had a knack of saying just the wrong thing to set Stiles off, almost like a gift.

Stiles gasped and gave her a horrified look. “Oh god. You’ve doomed us all,” he whispered before he dropped onto the couch and wrapped himself up in a blanket. 

Scott gave up and called Derek like he should have done in the first place. 

****

The trip to Montana was interesting and took a lot longer than Scott had anticipated since Chris Argent stopped regularly to meet up with old hunting buddies. 

Scott had a really hard time looking any of them in the eye since he knew that in this case 'hunting' referred to killing people like Derek and Laura, and people like Stiles sometimes too, not chasing Bambi around the forest. 

"They follow the Code," Allison kept saying, and Scott believed her. Allison wouldn't lie to him of course. 

He just kept imagining piles of dead people and they all had Stiles' face. 

They spent the first night with one of Chris' closest friends, a Hunter named Sly. 

Sly. He knew what Stiles would say about that nickname, and Sly kept calling Chris 'Silver Bullet.' Scott had been to enough frat parties at UC Beacon Hills senior year to be reminded of the way frat brothers talked to each other. He wondered if they were all literal frat brothers. If one of the fraternities he'd partied at during the previous year at college had secretly been some sort of front for all the Hunters while they were in college. Only with guns and wolfsbane instead of beer pong and toga parties. 

"What are you thinking about?" Allison asked him after dinner, and he smiled and answered truthfully.

"Fraternities," he said, and Allison had been at some of those parties too, and she got the reference and they giggled about it for the rest of the night. 

She really was so perfect. 

Scott and Allison started collecting the nicknames on the second day. Red. Slugger. Nightowl. Scott's favorite was Thor because he was actually a giant red-bearded man with a booming voice. Stiles would have loved him for the sheer cliche of things and the giant axe on his wall. Scott almost texted him before he realized that telling Stiles that he'd spent two days meeting a variety of Hunters was probably a terrible idea. Instead, he texted him when they saw six deer near the road, and when they drove past the exit for Drain in Oregon. Stiles demanded a picture as proof, so he talked Chris into turning around so he could take a photo of the sign. 

Scott's phone blew up with notifications for the next hour because Stiles had posted the photo of the sign to Twitter, and kept spam tweeting random facts about the town. 

Allison spent most of the hour replying to the tweets with increasingly ridiculous made-up facts about Drain and Oregon in general.

Well, Scott didn't think they were real. He couldn't imagine that Drain was really the territorial capital for a month once when the city of Salem flooded because of a burst dam. 

Chris Argent wasn't amused that afternoon when Scott asked innocently about the Hunter fraternity. Apparently the nicknames were to keep from using real names when they were hunting. 

"And that's not weird to you?" he asked. "You're hunting people who can recognize your name." 

"They're monsters, Scott," Chris said, giving him the serious and fatherly look he had perfected. 

"Stiles isn't a monster though," Scott said, thinking about the pile of bodies with Stiles' face.

"He's not, but a lot of them are. Hunters are there to protect everyone else from the ones who are monsters." 

Allison added unironically, "And it would be very bad if one of those monsters heard a real name and managed to track someone down." Scott had to literally bite his tongue to keep from pointing out that if you had to worry about the things you're hunting knowing your name, that might be a sign. But he knew Allison saw the words written on his face as clearly as if he'd said them, and she looked troubled. 

He was also pretty sure that Chris knew that Scott imagined all those bodies had Stiles’ face after that.

*****

Thor, as it turned out, kept the creepiest pet Scott had ever imagined. 

"It's called a kanima," Chris said, looking into the cage at the giant lizard thing in revulsion. 

"I captured him in Vegas," Thor said proudly. "They move faster than a wolf, and are stronger than even an alpha. And their venom will take down any of them easily." 

"It kills them?" 

"No, it just paralyzes them. I use him for protection and if I need to question some mutt," Thor said. 

"I've only read about them in the bestiary," Chris said. "I thought they spent most of their time in human form like werewolves do."

"He changes on command," Thor said. "But I keep him in lizard form most of the time." 

Scott was horrified to realize this lizard was human underneath, and looked for some sign of intelligence in his eyes, but couldn't find anything. He remembered what Stiles had said about Jackson, that he'd become something like this for a while, and shuddered. 

Thor smirked at him, "He's prettier as a person, but I keep him a lizard so I don't forget what he is." 

Scott turned away from the cage. His innate sense of justice was screaming that this was wrong. He wondered how the other-him felt, but he couldn't imagine that any version of himself wouldn't be appalled to see what had been done to the poor guy. There had to be a better way, and he made a note to ask Stiles more about how Jackson had been cured. 

"Ah, the kid's got a bleeding heart!" Thor boomed as he walked off. "He'd change his tune if he'd seen the way the beast ripped through his classmates before I killed his first master." 

"As I understand it they always seek a master," Chris said, "How did you figure out who it was?" 

Scott let the conversation fade as he closed the front door and leaned onto the porch railing. Inside he could hear the sound of Thor's booming voice but not his words. A moment later he heard the door open again. 

"— I had to shoot the little fucker four times to make sure—" Thor was saying inside before the door closed again, and Allison leaned in beside him. 

"You can see why it's dangerous can't you?" she said. 

"No," he said, turning to look at her. "But I can see how bad people can make him do terrible things." He looked out into the night, "I hate Jackson, but in the other universe he was like that, and used for bad things by bad people. It sounds like he's more like a gun, and the person that uses him to kill is the monster." 

"Thor follows the Code," Allison replied.

"Alli," Scott said, turning back to look at her, "If that's following the Code, the Code is bad too." 

"Scott, I love you, but this world isn't as black and white as you see it." 

"There's right and wrong Alli, and using someone to kill is wrong. There's no shades of gray to that," he said. "It's no different than your grandfather and those werewolves he controlled. You didn't blame them for what he did with them, did you?" 

"That was different—" Allison started to say and then stopped.

"It's not from where I'm standing," Scott said, and she turned to stare out into the night alongside him. 

*****

They made it to Bozeman the third day, and Kate was— 

Well. Kate was different than he'd expected for sure. 

Stiles had told him about Kate's creeper vibe and good looks, but this Kate was very different. Starting with the set of livid red scars across her face. Scott tried not to stare, but it was hard. 

"Bear attack," Kate said succinctly as she caught him looking when they were introduced. 

"He knows," Chris said into the awkward silence as Scott tried to figure out what to say, "about everything." 

"I thought you were retired?" Kate said, looking Scott over more closely and seeming unimpressed with what she saw. "He doesn't seem like the right kind to be taking as an apprentice hunter." 

Scott hoped it wasn't obvious how appalling he found the idea, but he knew he didn't have much of a poker face.

"Oh, he's a soft one," she said with disdain, turning back to Chris. "I'm surprised he survived his first encounter with the monsters." 

"He got caught up in the business with Gerard," Chris said, and Scott was still weirded out that everyone in the family called him by his given name. 

"Witches," Kate spat out. "I can't believe he took up with that sort." 

"Scott's best friend got caught up in it actually," Allison said. "Scott was a bystander mostly." 

"I'm surprised the Great Talia Hale let him keep the memories," Kate said. "I've heard she can pluck out a memory and no one is ever the wiser. Who knows what she’s managed to keep quiet in that town." 

"She follows the Code," Chris said. "And was very helpful about Gerard." 

"Set a monster on a monster," Kate muttered as she led them into the house. 

The house itself was creepy. Animal heads on the walls, glass eyes staring. There was even a huge wolf pelt on the floor, and Scott was relieved to know that werewolves didn't look like real wolves or he'd wonder which it was every time he saw it. 

"That monster killed ten people," Kate said having come up beside him so quietly he hadn't noticed. She was looking at the same thick dark-furred rug that he'd been looking at on the floor. "I tracked him down in full shift and shot him fourteen times as he charged towards me, and then when he was dying I skinned him and doused him with liquid wolfsbane and watched him scream."

Scott shuddered as looked at the rug in fresh horror. "That was a person? I thought they just, you know, grow teeth and claws with the like speed and stuff," Scott said. 

"The full shift is rare. And the beasts treat it like it's something holy," she answered. "But that proves that it's not holy, it's just another kind of monster." She walked off to point out to Allison where the door to the second guest room was. 

So yeah, he decided that Kate was definitely still crazy in this world, just a very different kind. 

*****

Allison was already prepared for what was coming at bedtime. 

Her dad had finally stopped giving him that cold-eyed gaze when they headed off to bed together, but Kate gave him a long look which was at least as cold as her brother's had ever been, but with a slight hint of calculation as well. 

"They're dangerous Scott," Allison said, without preamble.

"Sure," Scott said, still horrified by the rug, "I get that they can be. But my dad shot a guy once. A serial killer who pulled a gun and was going to shoot him. But he didn't skin him alive or set him on fire afterward. There's justice and then there's whatever that is." 

"It's not the same thing," Allison said, but he could tell her heart wasn't in it. 

"It is though," Scott said, as earnestly as he could, he knew she was almost understanding his point. "You told me hunters were there to protect everyone from the monsters. I get that, but—" he hesitated, "what do you do when the hunters are worse than the monsters? Or when the hunters have become monsters themselves?"

"We don’t let that happen. If a hunter gets bitten, there is a tradition that they kill themselves before they shift the first time," Allison said, almost relieved that he had moved away from the conversation she found troubling.

"Okay," he said, unsure how Allison had completely missed his point and trying hard to avoid thinking about the systematic suicide he'd just learned about. "But I meant people like Gerard. How many werewolves did he kill to make his little army in Beacon Hills? Or your aunt, who apparently doesn't seem to mind torturing and skinning people alive. Monsters aren't just—" he shrugged, "people with teeth." 

"What are you suggesting?" Allison asked. 

"I'm saying that maybe someone should do something about them," Scott said. "This is barbaric, and you know it." 

She didn't respond and climbed into bed, and he could tell she was troubled as he turned off the light and rolled toward her, hesitantly touching her side to see if she wanted to be held, and she moved her arm out of the way so he could pull her closer and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Kate was gone the next morning by the time they were up, and Chris said she'd be back before noon, so he took the opportunity to see what Chris thought of his idea. 

"'Who watches the watchmen?'" Chris said as soon as he finished talking, and it sounded like a quote. 

"Yeah," Scott said, "that." 

"It's an old question among the Hunter families," Chris said, looking out over the lake that Kate's cabin was next to. 

"But it bothered you too, right?" Scott said. "It's not just me?" 

"No Scott," Chris said, turning to look at him, "it's not just you. I thought I had taught Kate better, but—" he shook his head. "I can't decide if it's just that I know what she became in that other world. Maybe I'm overreacting, seeing things that aren't there." 

"But there are others," Scott said. "I mean Sly doesn't seem so bad. But that 'Red' guy was a major creep, and seemed disappointed we weren't going to go help hunt down that omega he heard about on the coast. And Thor has someone locked up in a cage that he's controlling just like Gerard did." 

"What are you suggesting Scott?" Chris said. 

Scott wasn't sure, but he said, "Just that there should be some kind of oversight or something." 

"The heads of each family are responsible for that," Chris said. "It's part of the Code." 

"But no one came after Gerard," Scott pointed out. "And who's going to go after Red if he decides to just kill that omega whether or not there's any evidence he's actually hurt anyone?" 

"You want me to interfere?" Chris said, and Scott could see he was troubled.

"Yes," Scott said, because that was what he wanted. "I want you, or someone like you who I know really believes in the Code, to stop the ones who don't. These are lives. Real people. What if I got bitten? Or Allison got bitten? You think we should just kill ourselves? The me in that other world was some kind of super-werewolf. I mean, obviously, I'm not here, but I keep thinking, what would he want me to do? Who would he want me to be?" 

"You think I'm a better person than I am," Chris admitted in a quiet voice. "I've tried to stick to the Code, but sometimes it's a gray area." 

"That person's skin isn't a gray area," Scott said. "Hunting werewolves for sport isn't a gray area. Stiles—" Scott felt tears perilously close to the surface, "he's not a gray area." 

"Stiles isn't like a lot of witches," Chris pointed out. "He learned his magic to defend his friends and his dad, his Pack in that world. With most witches it's simply about power." 

"How do you know?" Scott said. "You only ever see the bad ones, the good ones are so afraid of you they're hiding, rather than doing good in the world." 

"I'm still only one man," Chris said. 

"Then do what one man can do," Scott replied, and he could tell that he was getting through to the man. "And you're not alone." 

Chris gave him a ghost of a smile, "Are you offering to help?" 

"If you decided to do it, Allison would have your back," Scott said. "And I would, though I'd need to learn how. And if you needed help from him I know Stiles would help which means Derek would since they're basically inseparable." 

Chris actually laughed, "You think I should let werewolves hunt werewolf hunters?" 

"I think—" Scott said, and hesitated before he got the words right, "I think this is what Stiles means when he says 'Who else do I trust to do it right?' all the time." 

"What do you think Allison?" Chris said looking at his daughter. 

She was quiet for a long moment, taking a drink from the bitter coffee Kate kept in the house. 

"I had a hard time falling asleep last night," she finally said. "Seeing things through Scott's eyes on the way here, I think he's right. I think something does need to change. I think no system, no code, is perfect." 

"So you agree that we should interfere like this?" Chris said. "That's a big step past simply unretiring." 

"I realized last night while I couldn’t sleep, that Scott has a point. We’re no better than the Packs we’ve always complained about not policing their own when we won't police our own either," she said. "I think if something can be done to help that kanima, it should be. We’re not interfering in the Code, we’re intervening when the Code is broken.”

"We can talk about it more after we get back to Beacon Hills. Talia knows a lot of Packs, she might know which hunters have bad reputations, and if there are any that the Packs think are generally fair." 

"Good idea," Allison said, “and I think if we do this, we need a new Code."

"Do you have something in mind?" Chris asked her.

She nodded, "'Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes' seems particularly apt, Stiles said that it was the other Allison's code, and it seems right for this."

"What's it mean?" Scott asked. 

"We protect those who cannot protect themselves," Allison said, a hint of steel in her eyes as she looked at her father, who nodded approvingly, and Scott finally felt like he had a purpose here, that even if he'd decided not to take the bite like the other Scott had, that he could make a difference, and it felt right. 


End file.
